The James Robertson Memorial Fountain is a striking monumental Victorian-era structure standing in Goldstein Reserve near the corner of Arden Street and Coogee Bay Road. Many thousands of people pass by it each day. Robertson Monument in Goldstein Reserve
From Gold Miner to Mayor
James Robertson Memorial Fountain, Goldstein Reserve CoogeeIt is constructed of sandstone as are many of the buildings, monuments and retaining walls in the Coogee area. It is a stepped pillar with a pyramidal cap. It was designed to be a public drinking fountain. Mounted on each side are four half-circle embellishments into which drinking water originally poured into half-bowles supported by engaged columns.
James Robertson, Mayor of RandwickJames Robertson was a Randwick Council Alderman from 1889 to 1895 and Mayor On 10th February 1890 - till 21ST February, 1893 (3 years and 11 days), as well as being a Justice of the Peace.
An obituary published in the National Advocate 1912, said that Robertson was one of the gold mining pioneers of the Bathurst region who helped to introduce crushing machinery to gold mining in the area. He and his partners turned out to be lucky and successful miners, and Robertson became a wealthy and successful businessman:
" [He] was a strong-minded Scotchman, who arrived in the very early sixties at the Turon gold-diggings. He was an enthusiastic gold-seeker, and a fairly successful one. He, with others, opened up the Quartz Ridge gold mines, and unearthed large quantities of the metal from these reefs ... "Robertson married Rosalind Coyle, an employee of a millinery firm he visited, in Bathurst in 1867. They had five children, the first three were born in Bathurst (Rosalind, 1868, James, 1876 and Sydney, 1878). They moved to Randwick sometime around 1880 where two more children were born (Donald, 1880 and John. 1884), a wealthy and substantial couple.
In 1883, Robertson bought Isaac Nathan's old residence of Byron Lodge in Belmore Road, near the corner of Coogee Bay Road. He died there in 1912 aged 82. Not long after his death, the house was sold and demolished.
References
Sculptures & Monuments of Randwick City [4 page leaflet], Randwick City Council, c1995. 'The Late Mr. James Robertson', National Advocate (Bathurst, NSW) Mon 15 Jul 1912, Page 3 'Byron Lodge, its Residents and its Fate", Lochista, https://lochista.com, accessed 22 May 2021. Copyright © Coogee Media All rights reserved
| CONTACT US | ABOUT US |
